What I am doing wrong??? :(

When did you get your fish? Was it recently? Could you tell me how long after you introduced them until they died?
 
Thanks so much for all of the replies...I'm going to try and answer everything without forgetting something :)

I got the 2 Platys from Petsmart...2 males. (I would like to buy from a different store but there aren't anymore in my area other than Petsmart, walmart or Petco. All the smaller stores have closed) I got them the Saturday before last. Brought them home immediately. Floated the bag for about 15-20 minutes then added a small amount of the tank water into the bag for another 15 or so minutes. Then put them into the tank with my small net. They kind of checked out their new "pad" and explored. I didn't notice that they would gasp at the surface or notice that their gills were working harder than normal. (What I know as normal, anyway) Nothing LOOKED unusual. Last friday night did a 25% water change. Tap water, treated with Aquasafe, and about the same temp as tank water. Tested water the next morning. All parameters were:

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
PH: 7.8
I test the water everyday and I haven't seen any ammonia or nitrite. Using the aquarium pharmaceuticals master test kit. I check it every day becuase I wanted to make sure that when I added the 2 platys my water wasn't going to become toxic. Plus I want to also make sure that since my tank cycled so quickly (I used Bio spira) that it is indeed cycled which it seems it is.

So this past saturday I get up, check on the little guys as normal. all looked well. Swimming around, nothing looked strange or out of the ordinary. Then I guess about an hour later I was cleaning and my 4 year old son came to me and said he couldn't find one of the orange fish. I thought maybe he was in the cave. Then when I looked one of them was belly up. I immediately checked the water (again) to make sure all was still well. As it was from earlier that morning. I couldn't figure out what happened. I posted on here and someone suggested that maybe the other male picked on him and suggested to get maybe 3 females or leave just the one. I didn't get anymore platys but I got a betta. I put the betta in the tank (same method) on Monday. I watched and kept checking to make sure the betta would be okay with his tank buddies. He seemed to ignore his tankmates and keep to himself. The platy just went along business as usual. The neon tetras are all fine. Then last night when I came home the platy was in his cave. I went to bed. Got up this morning and platy was in his cave. Then came out and was just sitting at the bottom of the tank. when he did swim it was very peculiar looking. very slow and kind of wobbly. I knew that wasn't looking good. I dipped him out and put him in a bowl with the same tank water so I could take a closer look at him. At this point I knew I was going to lose him. I didn't see anything unusual. No marks or white spots or purple/red gills...nothing. Not sure what esle I should have been looking for. He wobbled around for a few more minutes and then that was it.

So sorry for the LONNNNGG post but I wanted to answer everyone's questions that was so nice to reply.
Thank you!!
 
as of this morning the nitrates were at 10 (Aquarium pharm. freshwater master test kit) I change about 25-30% of the water once a week. (its due for its weekly change on Friday) And yes, I have added salt to the water.
thanks roan! :)
 
invisible1130 said:
as of this morning the nitrates were at 10 (Aquarium pharm. freshwater master test kit) I change about 25-30% of the water once a week. (its due for its weekly change on Friday) And yes, I have added salt to the water.
thanks roan! :)
Click to expand...
Hrm. A lot of people have had the problem you have with various types of fishes. I'm wondering if we aren't asking the right questions sometimes. I'm going on a hunch here which is why I asked about the salt.

So you DO add salt. One point in favor of hunch.

(for anyone reading this and wondering where this is going, I'm thinking TDS. It may not go there. Worth a look though, IMO, and if this pans out, could explain the deaths.)

Okay, why are you adding salt and do you know how much salt is in the water?

Do you have a GH test? If you do, would you please test your tap water and your tank water and tell me what they both are?

Thanks!

Roan
 
Okay..some of this is brand new to me so here's where more learning comes in. What is GH? I didn't add salt to the tank at first (in fact I've only added it once) I added it because I've read in various places that salt is good for the fish. It keeps them healthier...keeping some infections away, etc. Ever since I got the tanks I've been on the computer every night looking up tank care, fish care,etc. Anything to do with fish keeping. SO this may be where I learn the facts regarding salt. I was actually going to post that question but then I ended up having to post about my lost platy instead. Just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it!!!!

Opps..i forgot to say that I added 2 tablespoons (per instructions it said 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons). In fact...I didn't even add more salt when I did my water change last week.
 
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